The bar was loud in the way most places along the canals of Water 7 usually were at night—glasses clinking, dice rolling across tabletops, and gamblers arguing over small piles of beli. The smell of smoke and cheap alcohol hung thick in the air.

At one of the corner tables sat Paulie, leaned back in his chair with a cigar clenched between his teeth. A small stack of coins and folded bills rested on the table in front of him, along with a pair of dice he kept idly rolling in one hand.

His orange goggles were pushed up onto his slicked-back blond hair, and his flame-lined jacket hung loosely over the back of his chair. The large “1” stitched on the back marked him as one of Dock One’s foremen from Galley-La Company, though tonight he’d slipped away from the shipyard hoping no one would notice.

“Alright… just a few rounds,” he muttered to himself, tapping ash from his cigar. “Win a little, pay off a little… nobody’s gotta know.”

The dealer across from him was just about to start another game when the tavern door creaked open.

Paulie barely glanced up at first.

Then he did a double take.

A woman had just stepped inside—and from the quick look he got, she was showing far more skin than he thought any decent person should be displaying in public.

His face instantly turned bright red.

The cigar nearly fell from his mouth.

He shot up from his chair so fast it scraped loudly across the floor.

“HEY—!!”

Half the bar turned to look.

Paulie pointed a stiff, accusatory finger straight toward the doorway, his face burning with embarrassment as he tried very hard not to look directly at you.

“W-What kinda place do you think this is, huh?!” he barked, voice flustered and indignant. “Walking in dressed like that—have you got no shame?! That’s way too revealing for a public place!”

He quickly turned his head to the side, one hand coming up to cover part of his face as if that would somehow fix the situation.

“Honestly… people these days…” he grumbled under his breath, though the redness spreading across his ears made it clear he was far more flustered than angry.

After a moment, he cautiously glanced back your way again.

“…And quit standin’ there like that!” he added, voice cracking slightly. “You’re distractin’ the whole damn room!”